Reader's POV
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We didn't sleep right away.
After days of walking, running, fighting, starving, and surviving, the stillness in the dojo felt illegal. Like we were breaking a law written by pain itself.
The candle crackled. Jiwoon stirred the pot again. Ereze was sharpening her blade like the edge had personally offended her.
I stared at the rafters.
"…Did either of you read novels? You know, before all this?"
Jiwoon snorted. "Pfft. Of course I did. I was that guy in the library."
Ereze paused, curious. "You mean like strategy scrolls?"
Jiwoon rolled his eyes. "No, not war manuals, Miss Blade Addiction. I mean actual books. Stories. Romance. Comedy. Chaos."
She blinked, clearly confused. "…Why would I read about something fake?"
I laughed, and for the first time in what felt like forever, it wasn't forced.
"I used to binge-read system novels. You know… 'Suddenly I'm Overpowered Because My Cat Bit a God and I Got Reincarnated as Its Litter Box.' Stuff like that."
Jiwoon wheezed. "Wait– that sounds like the one I read! Was there a flying raccoon monk?"
"Yes!"
"Oh my god, it had a sect made entirely of soup chefs!"
Ereze narrowed her eyes. "You both were mentally unwell before this even started."
I grinned. "Probably."
---
The room settled again.
Then Jiwoon asked, quieter this time, "Did you ever think… maybe those stories were preparation?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like… reading all those ridiculous plots. Game-like systems. Time travel. Apocalypse cheat skills. Maybe we were lowkey training for this."
I shrugged. "Yeah. Except this time, I didn't get any busted 'S-Rank Devour Everything and Win' skill."
Ereze raised a brow. "I did."
We both turned to her, shocked.
"…wait, what?"
"I devoured someone's patience," she said dryly. "And won this headache."
Jiwoon clapped once. "Okay. You win. She's the protagonist."
---
We didn't say much after that.
But it felt warm — the kind of warmth that didn't come from fire or food, but from memory. From knowing that, once upon a time, we were just people.
Laughing about stupid books.
Pretending our world made sense.